2013/14 Pro12 Round 7

[lynam1104]

Cooney was poor. I had high hopes for the guy, but I don't see him being more than a stop gap measure from here on in. Time to invest in McGrath me thinks.

So, positives. Line out went well. 2 tries. 4 points on the road with 17 guys away. Martin Moore is an animal, rossy has a hell of a fight ahead of him! Zane looked good, certainly a better player than people predicted (not me, of course)

Zane's form with the Boks was really good and hes continued it by the looks of it, I hope he keeps it up.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Not a great game but it's a very good result. Dragons first home loss of the season (unless RTE are feeding me bull****) against a glorified Leinster B&I Cup side is a decent effort.

Very happy with Martin Moore again and Michael Bent was strong at loosehead too. Tadgh Furlong got less than 10 minutes but put in a monster hit on Talei plus he scrummaged well in his first scrum when the pack was down a man. Nice cameo. Zane Kirchner looked hungry for work on his first start. The less said about Jimmy Gopperth and Lote Tuqiri the better.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Well, now that I'm not down the pub I'll try have a real look at this game. As Snoop said, this was a pretty excellent result. Dragons have been tricky at home this year and lost very few players to the Welsh setup. Could be a very important 4 points come the end of the season.

I thought our tight five was very good, albeit against a weak unit. Moore and Bent (who looks a better loosehead option than tighthead) kept the scrum going forward all evening, Dundon hit his targets with savage consistency and bagged himself a try and Quinn Roux threw himself about admirably. Considering how depleted we are in this sector compared to last season at the moment I'm happy with where we are.

It's unsurprising that we again had a lot of troubles at the breakdown, but this time it may simply be down to personnel as opposed to tactics. Not to take away from the three boys, but as a unit they're very lightweight. I'd argue that all but Jennings were played out of position. Still, Ruddock won a lot of lineout ball, which is a plus.

Cooney had a forgettable enough game at 9, but not as much as the man outside him. At this point Gopperth has to start showing more to justify his place at Leinster. Where was the game control that we signed him for? We certainly haven't seen it in the past few weeks. From my perspective, and I'd like to hear the thoughts of an outhalf on this, he seems to be trying to force things. He makes silly passes when they're not on (he gave a little inside pass between our 10m and 22 that no one expected and very nearly cost us important possession) and he kicks when we need to retain and retains when we need it booted down the field. He also threw some pretty horrendous passes last night.


Fitz and Reid didn't really get into the game unfortunately, but both looked eager for work, so that's a plus. Kirchner looks a good signing. Gave exactly the kind of performance you'd want from him last night. Composed and a calming presence at the back. Fanning had another decent outing without setting the game alight but Tuqiri was bloody poor. Anonymous is one thing, but he rushed up way too quick for their try and left himself stranded when he should have been able to make a tackle that would have killed the move dead.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

...but Tuqiri was bloody poor. Anonymous is one thing, but he rushed up way too quick for their try and left himself stranded when he should have been able to make a tackle that would have killed the move dead.

A few things stood out for me with regards Tuqiri. Firstly he looked like he lacked acceleration. Once he got going he was still quick but it took him a while to get up to speed. That was very noticeable for Dragons try. I'd hold Luke Fitzgerald culpable for it too since he followed the ball and lost his man on an outside break. That shouldn't have happened.

I won't fault Tuqiri's commintment (if he lacked it he wouldn't have busted a gut to get back playing last night after injury) but in truth his play has been disappointing.

 

[Feicarsinn]

A few things stood out for me with regards Tuqiri. Firstly he looked like he lacked acceleration. Once he got going he was still quick but it took him a while to get up to speed. That was very noticeable for Dragons try. I'd hold Luke Fitzgerald culpable for it too since he followed the ball and lost his man on an outside break. That shouldn't have happened.

I won't fault Tuqiri's commintment (if he lacked it he wouldn't have busted a gut to get back playing last night after injury) but in truth his play has been disappointing.

That's probably a sign of a guy just coming back from a hamstring injury. Once you get up to top speed all is dandy, but you have zero trust in it when accelerating/turning and all that jazz.


Didn't Fitz make a tackle in the line for the try? Pretty sure the man offloaded, but can he be culpable if he took his man?

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Not a great game but it's a very good result. Dragons first home loss of the season (unless RTE are feeding me bull****) against a glorified Leinster B&I Cup side is a decent effort.

Very happy with Martin Moore again and Michael Bent was strong at loosehead too. Tadgh Furlong got less than 10 minutes but put in a monster hit on Talei plus he scrummaged well in his first scrum when the pack was down a man. Nice cameo. Zane Kirchner looked hungry for work on his first start. The less said about Jimmy Gopperth and Lote Tuqiri the better.

Just on these two here. First of all Tuqiri was destined to be a bad move, he was brought in for three months to cover for us while Kirchener was with the Boks. He's in there for the sole reason of filling in the B side in Rabo games and maybe now that he's back from injury we could get one or two decent games out of him before he leaves (If he's still here I don't know when he leaves) but it doesn't really matter.

On Gopperth, he really hasn't had an easy role to play and he continues to get analysed to the extremes. Up until the Ospreys game he was a hero and since Castres he's been **** seems to be the general consensus but the reason for that, I believe, is that in the early part of the season Matt O'Connor was focusing primarily on the defensive system and that is why we have continued to grind out games and for the most part apart from a few blunders the defence has been good. Due to this we didn't really have an attacking game plan but we did have BOD so this allowed Gopperth to manage the game and kick for the corners and ship it out to the backs knowing BOD could and probably would do something good. Since the Munster game we have been without BOD and at the same time tried to implement our attacking system. This is harder to do than the defence and with a new coach will take a lot of time and therefore apart from the Ospreys game we have looked pretty **** 10-15 since BOD has been injured. When the players, most importantly Gopperth and Madigan, get used to the new systems we will be dangerous and fluid in attack again.... I hope.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Didn't Fitz make a tackle in the line for the try? Pretty sure the man offloaded, but can he be culpable if he took his man?

The big break in midfield came outside Fitzgerald who stepped in needlessly. Easy to say from my couch but had he not been ball watching and crept infield, there would have been no try.

 

[Tadginator]

Gopperth was very poor, attacking systems and stuff aside, he threw poor passes and sliced kicks. He didn't seem to manage the game that well either.
i was impressed by Kirchner, very good kick chases and solid at the back with a good line for reids try.
By the way tuqiri is playing and based on Mackenzie early season form, I would start Macken at 13 And move Fitzgerald to the wing. Fitzgerald hasn't impressed at all at 13 so far.
Very strange tactics when gopperth went for the posts towards the end instead of the corner. We had just scored two quick tries and had plenty of momentum with a decent lead. I was baffled as to why we didn't go for the line out.

 

[big ginger 8]

I was very annoyed to find Hudson actually played for Mary's yesterday. Why wasn't he given a shot vs the Dragons? I thought originally they might have left him because he was training with the Ireland squad this week but it's annoying to see both Fannning and Tuqiri ahead of him.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Gopperth was very poor, attacking systems and stuff aside, he threw poor passes and sliced kicks. He didn't seem to manage the game that well either.
i was impressed by Kirchner, very good kick chases and solid at the back with a good line for reids try.
By the way tuqiri is playing and based on Mackenzie early season form, I would start Macken at 13 And move Fitzgerald to the wing. Fitzgerald hasn't impressed at all at 13 so far.
Very strange tactics when gopperth went for the posts towards the end instead of the corner. We had just scored two quick tries and had plenty of momentum with a decent lead. I was baffled as to why we didn't go for the line out.

He was poor but he did get the brunt of the static and disorganised backline. Out-Half is the most central role in the backline and it's pretty important in the outcome of a game that the 10 plays well but yesterday for Gopperth and last week for Madigan the backlines looked static and disorganised, Cooney was also shovelling **** to Gopperth yesterday, and this forces the ten into pressure situations where they are going to throw hospital passes or rush a kick with a bad outcome. To be honest these mistakes are more encouraging than if Gopperth or Madigan were taking the ball into contact with space outside them like the Dragons 10 did a few times yesterday.

 

[UlsterRugby2012]

The Scarlets stadium is so empty, anyone know the attendance?
Bit worrying that they looked to have the upper hand in the first scrum..
oh & the English commentator doesn't even know the Ulster players! Called Cave Payne, Allen Trimble and Trimble Allen..

 

[Peat]

Fantastic defence there. Awesome.

 

[UlsterRugby2012]

Tackle on the far side was excellent when they went wide.

Im im interested to see how Farrell gets on tonight

 

[Peat]

Finally. They've been trying to pull players in/block guards all night, glad to see the Rat copping on.

 

[Feicarsinn]

The Scarlets stadium is so empty, anyone know the attendance?
Bit worrying that they looked to have the upper hand in the first scrum..
oh & the English commentator doesn't even know the Ulster players! Called Cave Payne, Allen Trimble and Trimble Allen..

Cave Payne would be an excellent outside center.

 

[dullonien]

Scarlets need to make this pressure count.

Not sure about Shingler at 10 thus far. Seems a little unsure and slow in his decision making.

Finally, they bag a try. Scarlets forwards going very well so far.

 

[Peat]

That was coming. Haven't really been able to get into the game at all after the first penalty.

 

[UlsterRugby2012]

We should be putting this Scarlets team away, we need to stop kicking it away and be more clinical. Frustrating first half..

 

[dullonien]

Timani is a better option at 8 than McCusker. Wouldn't be surprised if he kept the shirt.

 

[UlsterRugby2012]

Pure ****.